Mourning for the Sea and Sea/Beach-life

Human error--a large ship hits the San Francisco Bay Bridge, and oil spills out...we all pay for our oil habits--but right now the wildlife in the San Francisco bay are paying--in death and sickness.


As of Monday:
New numbers on oiled birds in care:

652 live birds
126 washed of oil
485 dead

All of the birds are being treated at the OWCN's San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Cordelia.

In case you are thinking that this is not very many injured/dead birds---consider that these are only the ones the rescuers have found or captured, and how much other sea and beach life is affected by this oil spill of bunker oil. The oil is still shifting around the bay--each day we read and watch the news and another favorite beach---with abundant wildlife---is oiled. Many of the beaches impacted are in national parks --the gooey bunker oil is in football size globs---and threatens the dungeness crab fishery in the bay as well as wildlife.

I find myself saddened and in mourning for what we do--in the name of "civilization" to our ocean and planet. If the oceans are in trouble--and there is increasing signs that this is so--we are in deep, deep trouble in terms of human survival on our planet. After 20 years of a livelihood on the ocean as a commercial fisherwoman, I feel deep empathy and affinity for the ocean, and so I feel her pain when we mistreat her.

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I no longer own a car. After I saw the Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient truth" I got rid of my car (and did that feel good!), and joined our local City Car Share. I urge you, dear reader, to consider your carbon footprint and what you can do to curb your use of oil---and please take a moment to say a silent prayer for San Francisco Bay.

In the words of Bay Area folksinger/songwriter Malvina Reynolds:

"The sea, the sea, the fragile sea,
Our source, our provider and our road to liberty,
Now we use it for a dump hole in this mad economy,
And we never will survive a dying sea."

San Francisco Bay resources and nonprofits that need your money and help:
Baykeeper
Oiled Wildlife Network
Save The Bay
International Bird Rescue Research Center